Northwest onion growers sure FDA's proposed rules will sting

Sunday

Jun 9, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 9, 2013 at 2:00 AM

NYSSA — Farmers in the nation's largest onion-growing region who depend on shared public irrigation systems worry that proposed new federal rules governing the cleanliness of water will threaten their livelihood.

The Associated Press

NYSSA — Farmers in the nation's largest onion-growing region who depend on shared public irrigation systems worry that proposed new federal rules governing the cleanliness of water will threaten their livelihood.

The Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion growing region is the nation's largest in terms of volume, with more than 20,000 acres of big bulb onions grown annually. The region supplies about 25 percent of the nation's total onion consumption.

The rules proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration focus on the amount of E. coli bacteria allowed in water that directly contacts with produce during or after harvest.

Growers say almost none of the surface water will meet the new standards.

Most of the surface water in this area will never meet those standards, said the National Onion Association ad hoc committee that is studying the issue.

The proposed rules come as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, passed in December 2010.

They include two numerical standards on the amount of generic E. coli bacteria that can be present in agricultural water.

One standard applies to water that directly comes into contact with produce during or after harvest and allows no detectable amounts of E. coli.

The other standard applies to irrigation water and requires E. coli levels to be less than 235 "colony forming units" of generic E. coli per 100 milliliters for any single water sample. The standard also requires five-consecutive samples to have a mean of less than 126 colony forming units.

Growers who irrigate with surface water would be required to test weekly during the irrigation season under the new rules, at a cost of about $40 a test. If they fail a test, the only option is to quit using the water.

The FDA determined that five main commodity groups carry the risk of food-borne illnesses: herbs, leafy greens, melons, sprouts and tomatoes. It categorizes more than 200 other commodities as "other," including onions.

Onion growers say the "other" designation unjustly lumps them in with hot peppers and green onions from Mexico, two commodities associated with food-borne illnesses.